v 46 hinge-fulcrum of passage: "No one ever spoke like this man...". Arresting officers could have said something else -- but they pointed to Christ.

2nd division: v 47 "...Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."

3rd division: Nicodemus v 51 "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing?" - 52 "...are you also from Gaililee?"

Pastor John -- "it's his claims" -- eight outrageous claims:
#1 Jesus claims to be God -Joh 13.19 ('I am' Exo 3.14)
#2 .. .. .. exist before he was born -Joh 8.58
#3 .. gives life for ours - Joh 10.26
#4 .. claims to be only way - Joh 8.28?, 14.26?, 12.46
#5 .. claims to be sustenance ~ savior - Joh 4.14, 10.27
#6 .. .. we can do nothing without him - Joh 15.1,5
#7 .. .. to be the one who raises from the dead - John 11.25, 6.40
#8 .. .. to supreme glory (and enjoying that and marveling at that is for us) -joh 17.24